Up to €40 million in loans could be made available to cultural and creative businesses in Brussels and Wallonia by 2029 after the European Investment Fund renewed a guarantee agreement with Belgium’s ST’ART fund.
The arrangement gives ST’ART access again to the guarantee mechanism under the EU’s InvestEU programme, which is designed to help finance projects by reducing risk for lenders, the EIF announced on Friday.
ST’ART will use the guarantee to back lending to companies in the cultural and creative industries — a broad category that includes activities such as film, music, publishing, design and other creative services — in the Wallonia region and the Brussels-Capital Region.
Access to credit is often difficult for businesses in these sectors because they may have limited physical assets to offer as collateral and face uncertain demand.
Earlier guarantees and existing loan products
A first guarantee programme launched in 2018 supported around 80 projects and led to the creation of the Culture Loan and the First Step Loan, according to the EIF.
A second programme under InvestEU launched in 2023 helped create a Production Loan and a Working Capital Loan, continued existing products and allowed more favourable conditions through reduced interest rates.
Since 2023, 63 ST’ART financings totalling nearly €20 million have benefited from InvestEU coverage.
Cultural and creative industries in Belgium contribute more than 3% to the country’s GDP and employ tens of thousands of people.
